Skander Dolohov was the least of Hugo's worries, yet the boy still found himself hiding behind the Muggle Studies section of Hogwarts' library. He figured it would be the least likely place for his friend to find him. Even so he jumped out of his skin, held his breath and ducked under the table every time he heard footsteps come his way. No one came when he hid.

"So this is were you've been hiding?"

Hugo froze, his hand dropping the book he had been reading, and he rubbed the back of his neck before turning slowly. Not only had Skander found him, but Hugo hadn't heard him.
How the hell did that happen?

"Hey, Sky."

Skander dropped his arms to his waist and sat down beside him. He was looking everywhere but Hugo himself, raising from his seat every so often, enough for Hugo to think he would just leave, giving him more time to know what to say. When he sat down again, Hugo didn't know whether to be grateful or disappointed that his friend was no longer choosing to avoid their inevitable talk; he didn't know what to say and that scared him, but he was glad that his friend was staying for him. Whatever Skander knew, he didn't hate him.

"I told you not to go out that night," he muttered at last. He slammed the book closed forcibly, the only tell that showed he was angry. Hugo kept his eyes down when Skander fidgeted and told him exactly what he thought, about how much of an idiot he was when he knew about the wolves and that he was lucky he wasn't dead. "I told you, Hugo, and now look at you." Skander grabbed his arm and pulled up his sleeve. "Look at you!"

Yanking his arm back quickly, still unable to look at his scar, Hugo stood up. "I already know what I am, Skander. The full moon was last week, remember?"

Skander's face paled slightly; he remembered that night very well. The thought of that night made him sick just thinking about it, he'd not slept at all. "I remember. I watched the moon rise from the window and I was terrified wondering what was happening to you, Weasley. I tried calling, but no one answered; your sister doesn't like me and your mum was busy. I doubt she even knew."

Hugo bit his bottom lip, his tell which told Skander when he was angry. People always told him he was metaphorically keeping his words to himself. "Rose never told me you'd called. I hate it when she does that." He stopped pacing and leaned forward onto the desk. "Why call me that night but ignore me for the rest of the week?"

Skander pulled on Hugo's shirt until he sat down beside him, his mouth opening and closing; he didn't know how to say what he wanted to, despite knowing Hugo for years. The boy opened his mouth to say something and Skander stopped him, wanting to say what he felt he needed to. "You're my best friend," he muttered and Hugo's eyes widened. Everyone knew that to be true, but he had never admitted to it, always saying Hugo was just there. "I worried. I got panicky and I needed to know where and how you were, but I couldn't find you."

"I was in the woods by Ted's," Hugo told me.

"I figured as much," he admitted. "I finally got hold of Lily and she told me you were at Ted's. She called me the next evening and told me she'd overheard her mum in a floo call with yours saying you were home and finally sleeping. Once I knew that and I started to calm down because you were fine, I freaked out because I had no idea what to say to you. How do you tell your best friend you know they're a werewolf?"

"Hugo, I know you're a werewolf," he suggested without humor. Hugo watched Skander's mouth twitch, though, and hated that his next words could potentially ruin that. "How did you know, Sky?"

"Someone followed me, he knew exactly who I was and that I knew you," he answered quietly, his smile replaced with a frown. "He told me what happened, he told me what you were, that you had some guy helping you and that I had to help keep you safe. He said the worst things would happen if you weren't safe. Hugo, what's going on?"

"I don't know." Hugo placed a finger on his lips, silencing him. He knew it would likely piss his friend off, but he couldn't figure out how someone would know so much about him. "How do you know everything they're saying is true? Where did they get this information?"

"He said you'd be skeptical," he laughed humorlessly. "He said this next piece of info would convince you, though." Hugo raised an eye-brow. "The guy helping you is a kid named Dimitri Eliot."

Hugo's heart seemed to stop for a second and his mouth fell open. "You know about Dimitri," he whispered. Skander nodded once and watched the relief show on Hugo's face. "Good. He helped me last week, he's okay."

"The guy said he was."

"Okay," Hugo said quietly. They sat in silence for what felt like forever, embracing the quiet for their own reasons. "Dimitri might know about this guy, I can ask him next time I see him, for now we're fine here in school. Did the guy give you a name?"

"He only gave me a first name; Timothy."

***

The light from the moon shone into the old warehouse, creating their only way for the pack to see in the otherwise dark building. They formed a circle in the moonlight, watching Donovan as they waited for his instructions; Lex pacing on his left and Timothy looking bored on his right.

They were waiting for another, for the girl who got them this far; the Seer.

Lex gave up his pacing and raised his hand for Donovan to see; Timothy snorted. Glaring but otherwise ignoring the younger wolf, Lex spoke hesitantly. "Can I ask a question while we wait for the girl?" Donovan nodded, giving his approval. "Okay, we know where the kid is now and we know enough about the damn school to know when we can get the kid. We know that the vampires haven't even tried to make a move to take him, so they probably don't know about his change yet, and they're probably waiting for the right time to move, same as us. So my questions are shouldn't we move quickly? Like this weekend? Long before the vampires even try?"

The room was silent while they waited for Donovan to respond, holding their breaths in case he replied in anger; he hadn't been in the best of moods with Lex over the month. Timothy took mild satisfaction over the severity of Lex's punishment for beating him. But Donovan's tone was soft and quiet; it seemed the man had finally been forgiven.

"I understand why you think this, Lex, but -"

"I said no."

The pack turned almost simultaneously to the new voice in the room. The heels of her boots caused her footsteps to echo, made louder by the silence. The circle opened up for her to pass and she stopped in the middle.

"Isabella," Donovan acknowledged with a grimace.

Isabella smirked, unafraid of the wolves surrounding her, having known them most of her life. "Still hate the thought of depending on a human, Don? You should really learn to get used to it, it's what he wants." She turned, catching the eye of everyone around her, before looking back to Donovan. "The vampires are not stupid, they are building their numbers before they go for the boy because he is not enough."

"We went for the boy and starting building numbers," one from behind her said.

"And for that you're ahead of them, you can afford to wait. The boy is safe at Hogwarts. They're not ready to take him."

They all waited for Donovan to approve again. "We wait," he said.

The pack stood up, ready to spread out among the warehouse, to sleep and wait for more instructions. "He shall help one side and hinder the other," Isabella spoke, reminding them of her vision. "If you want that side to be yours then continue to listen to me."

She was out of the room before anyone else and made her way to the other end of the warehouse. Stopping at the turn, she thought for a minute before turning left instead of right. Isabella opened the door into the makeshift bedroom and waited. It wasn't long before he came.

"Bella."

"Tim." She crossed the room and hugged him quickly. Then she pulled back and punched him in his arm. "You went to the friend last week! What was the point in that?"

"He's Weasley's best friend and family to a very old, dark name; not only could he be of use, but with Dimitri only going to him one night a month, Weasley is still safe," Timothy exclaimed, defending himself.

"I didn't think of that," Isabella muttered.

"You didn't think Weasley's best friend could keep him safe?"

"Of course I did, I didn't think he could be of use," she corrected. Isabella closed her eyes, remembering everything she had Seen of that meeting. "Dolohov knows what Weasley is. He knows about Dimitri, but neither of them know what he is."

"That's about right." Timothy made his way over to the old desk in the corner and sat on top. He hated the cold, dark warehouse. He hated what was happening and the others he was with. He hated him for making this happen, even from Azkaban. More than anything, Timothy wanted to leave, wished he could use his many chances to run and never look back. But he loved the girl in front of him, she was his only real family, and she wanted to help, to use her gift to stop them all, and he would help her. "What's going on with Weasley and Dolohov now?"

Isabella closed her eyes again and waited. "They're in a room, there's books everywhere. The library, they're in the library, just talking. They're talking about what they're going to do. They want to be ready for the next moon."

"And Dimitri?"

Isabella didn't even bother to open her eyes. "He's in the living room with Zack. They're talking, but it's quiet. Oh."

"What is it?"

She finally opened her eyes and sighed loudly. "Riley visited the other day."

***

Dimitri stared up at the ceiling from his slouched position on the couch, his mind still reeling from Hugo's kiss. He was so confused as to what he could possibly have done for Hugo to think he could do that, to assume he would want that, but he came up empty. Could Hugo actually like him? Or was it really just a thank you?

"Whatever happened to a simple handshake? They're much less confusing," he asked the ceiling.

"What?"

Dimitri sat up straight quickly, embarrassed that he had been heard. "Hey, Zack. I was just... Thinking out loud. About nothing in particular."

"About handshakes being less confusing?" he asked, amused, but changed the subject seeing Dimitri's reaction. Zack held out a bottle, waving it in front of him. "It's fresh and you need it."

Thanking him quietly, Dimitri took the bottle and brought it to his lips, embracing the feel of fresh, warm, human blood running through him. They sat together in the lamp's light, the sun had set long ago and Theo had gone out with Sophia; they were alone. Dimitri could feel Zack's eyes on him and squirmed in his seat until he was unable to ignore it and turned. "What is it, Zack?"

"Is there something on your mind? You've been awfully quiet."

He shook his head. He knew Zack would notice, but he had promised the man he wouldn't be involved and he promised Theo he wouldn't let them move. Dimitri didn't consider helping Hugo during his change as being involved with the pack looking for him, but it was only a matter of time before they tried to get to Hugo.

What would Dimitri do then?

He wouldn't let it happen, that he knew. No one deserved to be taken. They'd already changed Hugo's life by turning him.

"Dimitri?"

Dimitri snapped out of his thoughts and faced the man he knew as his father, suddenly hating that he was lying. "I'm fine."

Zack nodded slightly. "Riley visited."

"Oh. What did he want?"

"He knows the attacks on the news are from vampires as well as werewolves. He asked me if I knew anything about what's happening," he answered. "He asked about Hugo Weasley."

"D-Did you tell him everything you know or do you still think he'll tell his friend?"